January 29, 2005

Learn to Write in the Sand

Two friends were walking through the desert. In a specific point of the journey, they had an argument, and Friend One slapped Friend Two in the face. Friend Two was hurt, but -- without saying anything -- wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to relax in the cool water. Friend Two started drowning, and Friend One pulled him from the water and saved him. When he recovered from the fright, Friend Two wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.

Friend One asked Friend Two, "Why, after I hurt you, did you write in the sand, and now you write on a stone?" Friend Two, smiling, replied, "When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it; when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it."